Shards by Leslie Minot


 

          “God is a grand heart cut”
               – Anne Carson
 

i. Storm
 
The wind strums the iron gate,
unsettling and deep—
the sound of a cubist guitar
shattering perspective.
Trees like this music
well enough to dance.
 

ii. The G*d Fix
 
the burning
of being
with you
is not
entirely
commensurate
with the burning
of your absence
 

iii. Mountains
 
Everything is lifted
like a great earth shout
echoing to the horizon.
 

iv. Ultrasound
 
Moonscape of my left breast
unrolls across a screen,
jaggedly shadowed and completely alien.
 

v. Cactus
 
Roughandtumblebees
battle in purple cup
of beavertail.
This blossom opens
only for one day.
 

vi. Cast out of
 
We are cast out.
The gate is shut.
But still,
the shards of paradise
are not cast out of us.

 

 

Leslie Ann Minot has published poetry or translations in The Chicago Review, New Letters, The Red Rock Review, quarrtsiluni, and neon geyser/porcelain sky. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College.